“She reached out to me as head of the Molloy family.” His jaw tightens. “Not that I want to be the heir to his fucking poisonous legacy. But since I’m next in line, she wanted to let me know that the Kozlovs accepted her terms for how we will move forward. She scheduled a meeting for the three families to discuss details of how our organizations will exist together here in Boston.”
“When?”
“In three days,” Ronan says.
“I’m going.”
“You’re not invited.”
“I don’t give a shit.” I step closer to him. “If there’s a chance I can see her and talk to her without her security throwing me against a car, I’m taking it. You’ll just have to deal.”
Ronan rolls his eyes. “Will you please just listen? She reached out to me as a courtesy. She wants all three organizations on the same page about territories and routes going forward. The Molloys don’t get anything beyond what we had before the marriage contract. No expansion, no DiMicheli access.”
“I don’t care about territories.”
“I know you don’t. But she’s trying to cut ties with us cleanly so she can make a fresh start.” He pauses. “If you show up atthat meeting, you need to let the business happen first. Don’t blow up a negotiation that’s keeping us out of a turf war with the Russians.”
“I won’t,” I say through clenched teeth.
“And you need to actually have something to say. Not just ‘I love you, give me another chance.’ That’s not enough.” Gavin shakes his head. “She needs more. She’s smart and she deserves some groveling. So make it count. Do the whole grand gesture thing. Women love that shit.”
“I know she deserves so much.” I push back my sweat-soaked hair. “I know she needs more. I know I need to—fuck!” I swivel around and kick the heavy bag, knocking it off the chain. “I don’t know how to prove to her that I’m worth trusting again.”
“So figure it out.” Cillian says. “You’ve got three days. And for what it’s worth? She could do a fuck ton worse than you, Loch.”
“Fuck off or I’m gonna throw you in that cage,” I growl.
Cillian chuckles and starts to dance around in his fighter’s stance. “All right, let’s go. You wanna piece of this?” he taunts. And I can’t help the smile creeping across my face.
Wolfe, who’s been silent in a corner this whole time, finally speaks. “I can get you the location, the time, and the schematics for the meeting. She’s using a secure channel, but I can?—”
“That’s not necessary,” Ronan cuts in. “I’ll tell him where it is. I don’t need you to hack into her phone or anything. Let’s save those skills for another day.”
Wolfe shrugs. “The offer stands.”
I look between my brothers. These guys, some of the most important people in my life, showed up here to stop me from self-destructing. Even Ronan, who I said wasn’t my brother anymore, is here trying to help me.
“Why?” I ask him. “After everything I said to you. Why are you helping me?”
Ronan is quiet for a moment. “Because you were right. AboutDad. About all of it.” He meets my eyes. “And because you’re still my brother. Even when you’re being an asshat.”
“Three days,” I say.
“Three days.” He nods.
Cillian claps me on the shoulder. “Now go home and shower. You smell like a gym bag full of dicks.”
“You need to eat something, too,” Wolfe adds, adjusting his glasses. “Your cognitive function is impaired from lack of nutrition. You can’t plan a grand gesture if you starve your brain cells.”
“Thanks, doc,” I say. “I’ll take that into consideration.”
We walk out together, all four of us, for the first time in I can’t remember how long. It’s not like it used to be. There’s still tension, still history, still shit we need to work through. But it’s a start. And we’re all willing to figure things out and move forward together.
How fucking ironic is it that my asshole of a father is the reason why we’re putting the pieces of our fractured family back together. He forced me into a marriage with a woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. And he made me realize just how important family bonds can be, and how destructive life can be without them.
I slide into the driver’s seat of my truck.
I have three days to figure out how to win Adriana back, to convince her that I will spend the rest of my life making her feel like the queen she already is to me.
